On my last morning in Vancouver I had a sleep in, packed my backpack (including my 3 cans of undrunken beer) then watched a 1970's movie in the TV room and eventually decided I should actually do something active with my last day. So I went on a long walk including crossing 2 of Vancouver's big bridges and checking out the Granville Island Market. Then it was time to go. I grabbed my pack and caught the SkyTrain to Vancouver's Pacific Central Station. It is an old historic station, with a big hall, very much like you would see in the movies. I checked in and retrieved my CanRail pass (which entitles me to 12 days of unlimited travel on Canada's national rail network within 30 days). For the first leg of my journey, a 23 hour journey through the Canadian Rockies to Edmonton, I decided to treat myself with a sleeper, which also automatically entitled me to “Silver and Blue” treatment – VIARail's first class service. So off I went to the Silver and Blue departure lounge.
If I was to use one word to describe the next 24 hours, it would probably be “wow.” (Either that, or “train.”)
The rail journey (route from Vancouver to Toronto, known as “The Canadian”) commenced with the Silver and Blue class passengers being invited to the “Club car” at the back of the train for complimentary Champagne and fingerfood. The club car was a bar and lounge, with stairs to the roof, to the viewing dome, from which you could see 360 degrees including the front of the train winding ahead. I would spend a lot of the journey in this viewing dome.
The train was nothing like Europe's high speed inter city trains. It is more of an antique. The carriages were from the 1950's, restored and refurbished. The club car lounge had an art deco design. Since stepping foot in the station, I felt like I was catapulted a number of decades into the past. The only thing missing was a steam engine at the front of the train (it was pulled by two diesel locomotives)
The train left Vancouver and made it's way into the Rockies just as it got dark. Dinner was shortly served in the dining car. The dining car was another step back in time. A bronze coloured décor, with lots of tables each seating four and having a big window to look out of. Service was excellent and the three-course-meals were good restaurant quality. Customers in not already in groups of 4 were seated with other guests by the the waiters, so there was always someone to talk to.
During dinner the sleeper rooms, which during the day were sitting rooms, were converted to their sleeper form. I didn't have a private room, but rather what they called an “upper berth”. This was a seat bay in the first class section which at night would convert to an upper and lower bunk. The bed in my upper bunk was actually bigger than the beds in the private or family sleepers, and I had a hammock above as shelving for my bags and personal items. I went to bed at 1am and drifted off to sleep to the rocking motion of the train. I woke up a lot of times during the night due to sharp turns, sudden stops or just people out in the hallway beyond my curtain separating my berth, but overall it was a decent sleep.
I woke up for the umpteenth time at 7am and was about to go back to sleep when I decide to peek outside at the scenery. I could see snow on the ground, and this excited me enough to get out of bed, have a shower, go to the restaurant car for cooked breakfast, and move on into the viewing dome for views of the Rockies winding by.
The train could only go quite slowly through these mountain ranges, and would also often come to stop to let freght trains past. But there was no rush when you had the constant views of frozen lakes, towering mountains, snowy pine forests and crystal clear creeks.
There were plenty of people to talk to as everyone was friendly. The patrons were mostly old couples but there were a few young people and some families as well. Canadians (mostly French-speaking), Americans, English, and of course a few token Aussies (can't go anywhere without Aussies!)
Just before lunch we stopped off in Jasper, a small town in the middle of the huge Jasper National Park. I went out for a stroll but was happy to get back into the train to escape the 2C temperature.
I was warmed up by soup and a delicious roast beef sandwich in the dining car for lunch. I watched the countryside and participated in wildlife spotting. Apparently the engineers at the front of the train had spotted a bear at the side of the track, but by the time the dining car had made it to that point the bear had gone down an embankment. The only animals I got to see apart from ducks were the native American mountain sheep scampering on the rocks above the train.
Up to this point it had been cloudy, which was a shame because some of the highest mountains in the Rockies were not visible past their base due to the clouds. But then the clouds broke and we continued on through the end of Rockies and the start of the prairies in nice warm sunshine. The sunshine through the dome roof and the rocking of the train put me to sleep again in my seat and before I knew it it was time for me to disembark in Edmonton.
Prior to planning this trip, I had never heard of Edmonton. I just picked it as a place to stop off because it was the most sizable city between Winnipeg and Vancouver on the train line. It is a city about 300km North of Calgary in the province of Alberta, and is comparable in size to Adelaide.
The railway station is out of the way in Edmonton. My hostel directions told me to walk 4 blocks and then catch 2 buses. So I started my walk from the train station and a big white van stopped by to offer me a lift. Still being in big city mode, I politely refused the assistance on account of not wanting to be hacked up into a million pieces. But upon reflection, and several strangers making conversation with me just on on my bus rides, I realised that this is probably a genuinely friendly place, and I could have accepted that lift, and saved myself a long wait for the buses.
I have now checked into my hostel – the only one in town – and will tomorrow probably go check out Edmonton's main attraction: the West Edmonton Mall – the world's biggest indoor shopping center (sic). You might legitimately ask why a city the size of Adelaide needs the world's biggest shopping center (sic); I asked that on the train. Apparently the winter here is so unbearable, the people need indoor entertainment. I'll report on what I find there, but supposedly it comes complete with a wave pool, amongst other things. I have 3 days in Edmonton until the next Eastbound Canadian service comes through town to pick me up and take me through the prairies.
Where in the World is DK?
17 April 2008
15 April 2008
Vancouver
The Greyhound service from Whistler to Vancouver again provided some magnificent views of mountains, seas, forests and lakes.
I checked into the SameSun hostel in Vancouver, on slightly seedy but cool Granville Street; surrounded by clubs, venues and lots and lots of pizza shops. There are probably about 5 pizza shops within viewing distance of the hostel, all selling large $1.49 pizza slices. Vancuvrians (?) must really like pizza!!!
The hostel itself was interesting. My room was very basic: nothing but 2 bunk beds in bare room, and very messy / not very clean looking. I lay down on my bunk bed, exhausted from walking around the city with my backpack on, looking for the hostel (I followed my guidebook's version of where the hostel is which took me to the wrong end of town). Looking at the room, I thought this is what it must be like being in jail. But then I remembered the key difference, I can leave the room. So I did. The hostel came with it's own bar downstairs, called “The Beaver”. The slogan was “Be Canadian. Eat (at the) Beaver.” The “at the” was small print. The best thing about eating (at the) Beaver was the fact that they had nightly $4 meal specials, which on the first night was lasagna, second night Sunday roast and on my last night “West coast” fish and chips. Now that's what I call backpacker priced meals.
I spent my days in Vancouver shopping (first day) and sightseeing (second day). My sightseeing walk of about 5 hours took me along the famous Sea Wall all around Vancouver and the world class urban park Stanley Park, and all through the park itself.
Stanley park really is an amazing place. It is a big park right beside downtown Vancouver on one side, and surrounded by water on the 3 other sides. Walking through it you would swear you are not in the city. It feels like remote forest, lush, green and full of animals. The only sign of the city are the frequent sea landing planes zooming across the park, taking off from one of the waterways just North of Vancouver's downtown.
One of the coolest things about Vancouver is that you can almost always see mountains hiding behind the city's skylines, with their peaks still covered with snow. So you can be on a street surrounded by high rise buildings, but look down the street and see the harbour, and behind the harbour a towering, snowy mountain. But despite the snowy mountain scenery, it was nice and sunny, and 2 of my 3 days here were T-shirt weather.
My overall impression of Vancouver is that is a nice, clean place. In contrast to the US cities I have seen, it certainly feels cleaner, nicer and safer.
On my last night after the ritual meal in the bar I headed out to the local casino. I'd saved so much on buying $4 dinners that I had the urge to lose some money. Which I managed to do nicely. Though I was impressed with the 50 cent roulette tables! This morning I have checked out and am hanging around the hostel before I embark on my train journey across Canada, which departs at 5:30 in the evening.
I checked into the SameSun hostel in Vancouver, on slightly seedy but cool Granville Street; surrounded by clubs, venues and lots and lots of pizza shops. There are probably about 5 pizza shops within viewing distance of the hostel, all selling large $1.49 pizza slices. Vancuvrians (?) must really like pizza!!!
The hostel itself was interesting. My room was very basic: nothing but 2 bunk beds in bare room, and very messy / not very clean looking. I lay down on my bunk bed, exhausted from walking around the city with my backpack on, looking for the hostel (I followed my guidebook's version of where the hostel is which took me to the wrong end of town). Looking at the room, I thought this is what it must be like being in jail. But then I remembered the key difference, I can leave the room. So I did. The hostel came with it's own bar downstairs, called “The Beaver”. The slogan was “Be Canadian. Eat (at the) Beaver.” The “at the” was small print. The best thing about eating (at the) Beaver was the fact that they had nightly $4 meal specials, which on the first night was lasagna, second night Sunday roast and on my last night “West coast” fish and chips. Now that's what I call backpacker priced meals.
I spent my days in Vancouver shopping (first day) and sightseeing (second day). My sightseeing walk of about 5 hours took me along the famous Sea Wall all around Vancouver and the world class urban park Stanley Park, and all through the park itself.
Stanley park really is an amazing place. It is a big park right beside downtown Vancouver on one side, and surrounded by water on the 3 other sides. Walking through it you would swear you are not in the city. It feels like remote forest, lush, green and full of animals. The only sign of the city are the frequent sea landing planes zooming across the park, taking off from one of the waterways just North of Vancouver's downtown.
One of the coolest things about Vancouver is that you can almost always see mountains hiding behind the city's skylines, with their peaks still covered with snow. So you can be on a street surrounded by high rise buildings, but look down the street and see the harbour, and behind the harbour a towering, snowy mountain. But despite the snowy mountain scenery, it was nice and sunny, and 2 of my 3 days here were T-shirt weather.
My overall impression of Vancouver is that is a nice, clean place. In contrast to the US cities I have seen, it certainly feels cleaner, nicer and safer.
On my last night after the ritual meal in the bar I headed out to the local casino. I'd saved so much on buying $4 dinners that I had the urge to lose some money. Which I managed to do nicely. Though I was impressed with the 50 cent roulette tables! This morning I have checked out and am hanging around the hostel before I embark on my train journey across Canada, which departs at 5:30 in the evening.
13 April 2008
Whistler
My last night in Seattle, a Saturday night, was meant to be spent going out and enjoying the vibrant nightlife downtown Seattle has to offer. I met some people to go out with but it wasn't to be, because the 31 year old American had lost his ID (they check everyone for ID), an Aussie girl was being stalked by some local gangs and was too afraid to go out,and there were some 19 year olds, which of course in the USA is underage. So we stayed an partied in the hostel.
The Green Tortoise Hostel in Seattle is one of the best places I've ever stayed in. Spotless showers are a luxury when you're hosteling it. Seattle was meant to be a pass-through city for me, but it turns out to be a really interesting place, with heaps to do, so I wish I had arranged to stay longer. But how could I be sad to leave when I was heading on to Whistler Village, British Columbia, to ski North America's premier ski resort, Whistler Blackcomb.
The six or seven hours from Seattle to Whistler went surprisingly quickly, thanks to catching up on sleep, chatting to fellow Aussies from the hostel and a border crossing from the USA. The US customs officials (with guns, of course) were surprisingly full on coming out of the US, asking all sorts of questions of most of the people on the bus. But they mainly picked on the black man. His bag was the only one they searched, asking “do you have any drugs in here?” as they opened it.
The service from Seattle terminated in Vancouver, where I had to change to another bus. A good American bloke which some girls from my hostel and I met on the bus was kind enough to offer us some of the cheap duty free beers he bought on the border which we subtly (ok, maybe not so subtly) drank in the Vancouver train station McDonald's. He was headed to Whistler as well, so gave me some tips on the way up as well as an initial tour on arrival. The trip up itself was great, with amazing views of lakes and snow-capped mountains all the way up!
When I arrived I met up with my friends Amanda and Jayson, who had flown to British Columbia from London to go skiing.
Together we had booked a small townhouse apartment, complete with 2 balconies overlooking snowy mountain ranges, one with a hot tub!
The week was spent skiing the vast terrain of the dual Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. Each mountain feels like its 4 times the size of Mount Hotham (for those Aussie skiers), and there's 2 of them!
One of the highlights was skiing the run which will be the Men's downhill race run for the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics.
The night life in the Village was surprisingly quiet, probably due to the fact it was the end of the season. This time of the year normally brings little snow, but we were lucky as the mountain still had excellent snow cover (2.6 metres). We were usually so exhausted after a day of skiing the vast terrain though, that we were happy to have some drinks in our private hot-tub instead of hitting the town every night.
During my last 2 days on the mountain we got to sample the World Ski and Snowboard Festival in the village, which involved all sorts of festivities including band performances on big stages with the snowy mountains as a backdrop.
Today it was time to depart Whistler. I spent the morning hanging out in the Village, enjoying some really warm weather (sunny T-shirt weather) and checking out the goings-on of the festival. Then caught the greyhound back to Vancouver for the next set of Canadian adventures!
The Green Tortoise Hostel in Seattle is one of the best places I've ever stayed in. Spotless showers are a luxury when you're hosteling it. Seattle was meant to be a pass-through city for me, but it turns out to be a really interesting place, with heaps to do, so I wish I had arranged to stay longer. But how could I be sad to leave when I was heading on to Whistler Village, British Columbia, to ski North America's premier ski resort, Whistler Blackcomb.
The six or seven hours from Seattle to Whistler went surprisingly quickly, thanks to catching up on sleep, chatting to fellow Aussies from the hostel and a border crossing from the USA. The US customs officials (with guns, of course) were surprisingly full on coming out of the US, asking all sorts of questions of most of the people on the bus. But they mainly picked on the black man. His bag was the only one they searched, asking “do you have any drugs in here?” as they opened it.
The service from Seattle terminated in Vancouver, where I had to change to another bus. A good American bloke which some girls from my hostel and I met on the bus was kind enough to offer us some of the cheap duty free beers he bought on the border which we subtly (ok, maybe not so subtly) drank in the Vancouver train station McDonald's. He was headed to Whistler as well, so gave me some tips on the way up as well as an initial tour on arrival. The trip up itself was great, with amazing views of lakes and snow-capped mountains all the way up!
When I arrived I met up with my friends Amanda and Jayson, who had flown to British Columbia from London to go skiing.
Together we had booked a small townhouse apartment, complete with 2 balconies overlooking snowy mountain ranges, one with a hot tub!
The week was spent skiing the vast terrain of the dual Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains. Each mountain feels like its 4 times the size of Mount Hotham (for those Aussie skiers), and there's 2 of them!
One of the highlights was skiing the run which will be the Men's downhill race run for the 2010 Vancouver/Whistler Winter Olympics.
The night life in the Village was surprisingly quiet, probably due to the fact it was the end of the season. This time of the year normally brings little snow, but we were lucky as the mountain still had excellent snow cover (2.6 metres). We were usually so exhausted after a day of skiing the vast terrain though, that we were happy to have some drinks in our private hot-tub instead of hitting the town every night.
During my last 2 days on the mountain we got to sample the World Ski and Snowboard Festival in the village, which involved all sorts of festivities including band performances on big stages with the snowy mountains as a backdrop.
Today it was time to depart Whistler. I spent the morning hanging out in the Village, enjoying some really warm weather (sunny T-shirt weather) and checking out the goings-on of the festival. Then caught the greyhound back to Vancouver for the next set of Canadian adventures!
06 April 2008
Seattle
Virgin has in the last few months started a domestic airline in the USA, called (predictably enough) Virgin America. They look pretty cool online and are cheap enough, so I decided to give them a go. American authorities recommend getting to the airport 2 hours prior to scheduled departure, so I got to San Francisco Airport exactly 2 hours prior, only to be disappointed to find that my Virgin America flight to Seattle was a few hours delayed due to one of their planes being buggered (not their exact words). In the end it meant I spent over 5 hours in an especially boring airport terminal. One that only had one pizza restaurant and one cafe. The pizza made for a good late breakfast, though. And on the bright side, Virgin America bribed us not to hate them by supplying free alcohol. Their in flight entertainment was also awesome, I was won over. Mainly by the free alcohol.
Upon arriving in Seattle I was pleased to find that the way downtown was by bus, which only cost $1.50 and was due to depart in a few minutes. It was a long few minutes though, as I came to the realisation of how bloody cold Seattle is. There was no snow, but to me it felt like it should have started coming down any moment. Instead, rain started coming down while I was on the bus, and I managed to get drenched upon disembarking, mainly due to the fact I got lost looking for my hostel. I eventually found it at about 9:30pm, but was freezing and dripping wet when I did so. I recovered by having a quiet one.
Today was my only full day in Seattle so I packed a lot in. Got up early and started with a tour to the Boeing plane assembly plant just out of the city. This plant is in the largest building in the world (by volume). The place is huge. When standing inside, “Jumbo” jets look small. The building is so big in fact, that when they first started using it, it created it's own weather. Clouds would form inside it, and sometimes it would rain! They fixed it by installing giant blower fans.
I am a bit of an airline industry geek, so I was interested to see the first ever Boeing 787 Dreamliner (a revolutionary new airliner) in production, and almost finished.
I got the tour driver to drop me off at Seattle most recognisable landmark, the Space Needle. I went up and checked out the views, and then caught the monorail downtown.
I spent the rest of the day exploring the downtown area and doing some shopping. Seattle is the place where the first Starbucks coffee opened. I went to try to have a coffee there, but the line was almost out the door, and I didn't think it was worth the wait. They really love their Starbucks here though! Without exaggeration, there really seems to be one on every block here! There were several points in the city where I noticed there were 2 different Starbucks in direct view. It is quite ridiculous, really.
Last night as I walked around in the rain I came to the unfortunate realisation that my old shoes were no longer waterproof. So seeing as I am heading up to the snow tomorrow (Whistler still has 2.6m of snow as of today) I decided to shop for some new shoes. The sale in Nike Town worked out well for me.
Tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, I'm catching a Greyhound bus for 217 miles to Whistler, British Columbia (Canada) via Vancouver.
Upon arriving in Seattle I was pleased to find that the way downtown was by bus, which only cost $1.50 and was due to depart in a few minutes. It was a long few minutes though, as I came to the realisation of how bloody cold Seattle is. There was no snow, but to me it felt like it should have started coming down any moment. Instead, rain started coming down while I was on the bus, and I managed to get drenched upon disembarking, mainly due to the fact I got lost looking for my hostel. I eventually found it at about 9:30pm, but was freezing and dripping wet when I did so. I recovered by having a quiet one.
Today was my only full day in Seattle so I packed a lot in. Got up early and started with a tour to the Boeing plane assembly plant just out of the city. This plant is in the largest building in the world (by volume). The place is huge. When standing inside, “Jumbo” jets look small. The building is so big in fact, that when they first started using it, it created it's own weather. Clouds would form inside it, and sometimes it would rain! They fixed it by installing giant blower fans.
I am a bit of an airline industry geek, so I was interested to see the first ever Boeing 787 Dreamliner (a revolutionary new airliner) in production, and almost finished.
I got the tour driver to drop me off at Seattle most recognisable landmark, the Space Needle. I went up and checked out the views, and then caught the monorail downtown.
I spent the rest of the day exploring the downtown area and doing some shopping. Seattle is the place where the first Starbucks coffee opened. I went to try to have a coffee there, but the line was almost out the door, and I didn't think it was worth the wait. They really love their Starbucks here though! Without exaggeration, there really seems to be one on every block here! There were several points in the city where I noticed there were 2 different Starbucks in direct view. It is quite ridiculous, really.
Last night as I walked around in the rain I came to the unfortunate realisation that my old shoes were no longer waterproof. So seeing as I am heading up to the snow tomorrow (Whistler still has 2.6m of snow as of today) I decided to shop for some new shoes. The sale in Nike Town worked out well for me.
Tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, I'm catching a Greyhound bus for 217 miles to Whistler, British Columbia (Canada) via Vancouver.
05 April 2008
Sydney to San Francisco
Last time I came to America I flew into LA and hated the place. Then I went up to San Francisco and loved it. So this time around I decided to make my North American entry point San Francisco. There are no direct flights from Melbourne so I had to fly via Sydney.
The night prior to my departure the Bureau of Meteorology released a warning about extreme winds and sure enough, when I woke up in the morning there was weather trouble. I immediately got mental images of my plane crash landing into Melbourne's western suburbs, but was also worried about flight delays, because if my flight up to Sydney was delayed, I'd miss my San Fran connection, and that flight only flies a few times a week.
Luckily, my flight was a morning flight, and at the time of departure, winds were only about 50-60km/h (not yet to 100km/h gale force as predicted for later). My flight was bumpy, but landed in sunny Sydney without a problem. Apparently Melbourne got worse in the afternoon so I was lucky. Sydney, on the other hand was beautiful. 29 degrees and clear blue sky. The views of the harbour from the plane were awesome, I almost wanted to stay in Sydney. But I was off to another great harbour city.
My flying was really quiet. No-one to chat to. From Sydney there was an unfriendly woman only interested in sleeping, and on the big flight I was stuck next to a middle aged Eastern European couple who only seemed to know a few words in English. And much to my disappointment, the American school girl coming home with her school group from their Spring break trip to Australia and New Zealand didn't seem very interested in chatting to me either.
I only managed to catch a few hours sleep on the 14 hours flight so I was pretty tired when I landed. And due to the time difference, it was only about 10 am the same day I departed, so I had a long way to go until nighttime. I kept myself awake by going shopping and walking the steep streets, and at nightfall sinking some cheap beers with hostel randoms.
Last time I was in San Fran I wanted to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. I walked up to it one afternoon but by the time I got there it was late and cold. So this time I dedicated a day to it. I rented a bike at touristy Fishermen's Wharf, and rode along the bay, up and over the bridge, and down to an affluent town across the bay, and caught a ferry back. As with everything in San Francisco (including just walking the streets), it provided for stunning views. When I first started walking around the city on this trip, I thought that it is not as cool as I remembered it. Perhaps last time I only loved San Fran so much thanks to the contrast with LA. But then when walking the streets, I couldn't help myself exhaling audible “wow”s on many street corners, I realised again why the city is so special. The number 1 place for urban views. It had won me back.
My second and last night in SF was spent on a hostel-organised pub crawl. It was pretty fun, as you might expect. I also had a few too many drinks, as you might expect. This morning I was meant to get up at 9ish to make the 10 am checkout time but awoke from my slumber at about 11. Oops. Ah, must be the jet lag! ;)
Luckily I had enough foresight when booking my trip to make my flight departing SF at 2:30 in the afternoon. So as I write this I am at SF airport, waiting for my flight to Seattle, which, as it happens to be is more than 3 hours delayed anyway. What better way to spend a hangover than 5 hours in an airport terminal. If only there was a McDonald's here to make my stomach feel better....
The night prior to my departure the Bureau of Meteorology released a warning about extreme winds and sure enough, when I woke up in the morning there was weather trouble. I immediately got mental images of my plane crash landing into Melbourne's western suburbs, but was also worried about flight delays, because if my flight up to Sydney was delayed, I'd miss my San Fran connection, and that flight only flies a few times a week.
Luckily, my flight was a morning flight, and at the time of departure, winds were only about 50-60km/h (not yet to 100km/h gale force as predicted for later). My flight was bumpy, but landed in sunny Sydney without a problem. Apparently Melbourne got worse in the afternoon so I was lucky. Sydney, on the other hand was beautiful. 29 degrees and clear blue sky. The views of the harbour from the plane were awesome, I almost wanted to stay in Sydney. But I was off to another great harbour city.
My flying was really quiet. No-one to chat to. From Sydney there was an unfriendly woman only interested in sleeping, and on the big flight I was stuck next to a middle aged Eastern European couple who only seemed to know a few words in English. And much to my disappointment, the American school girl coming home with her school group from their Spring break trip to Australia and New Zealand didn't seem very interested in chatting to me either.
I only managed to catch a few hours sleep on the 14 hours flight so I was pretty tired when I landed. And due to the time difference, it was only about 10 am the same day I departed, so I had a long way to go until nighttime. I kept myself awake by going shopping and walking the steep streets, and at nightfall sinking some cheap beers with hostel randoms.
Last time I was in San Fran I wanted to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. I walked up to it one afternoon but by the time I got there it was late and cold. So this time I dedicated a day to it. I rented a bike at touristy Fishermen's Wharf, and rode along the bay, up and over the bridge, and down to an affluent town across the bay, and caught a ferry back. As with everything in San Francisco (including just walking the streets), it provided for stunning views. When I first started walking around the city on this trip, I thought that it is not as cool as I remembered it. Perhaps last time I only loved San Fran so much thanks to the contrast with LA. But then when walking the streets, I couldn't help myself exhaling audible “wow”s on many street corners, I realised again why the city is so special. The number 1 place for urban views. It had won me back.
My second and last night in SF was spent on a hostel-organised pub crawl. It was pretty fun, as you might expect. I also had a few too many drinks, as you might expect. This morning I was meant to get up at 9ish to make the 10 am checkout time but awoke from my slumber at about 11. Oops. Ah, must be the jet lag! ;)
Luckily I had enough foresight when booking my trip to make my flight departing SF at 2:30 in the afternoon. So as I write this I am at SF airport, waiting for my flight to Seattle, which, as it happens to be is more than 3 hours delayed anyway. What better way to spend a hangover than 5 hours in an airport terminal. If only there was a McDonald's here to make my stomach feel better....
30 January 2007
G'day from the land of the Drive Thru Bottle-o
When I last wrote I was just gearing up for Christmas, with a little shopping trip to France. The week that followed involved more Christmas festivities and paying particular attention to the media's reports about the trouble at Heathrow Airport.
First of all apparently many people were missing flights because the extra airport security needed after the August London terrorism scare couldn't cope with the masses all escaping London for the holidays.
Then to make matters worse, you may have heard that London was engulfed in some major fog. It really was quite bad. Think of the worst fog you have ever seen early in the morning or very late at night, and apply it for four days non-stop. That's what it was like. Hundreds and hundreds of flights from Heathrow were cancelled, and I was worried because on Saturday 23rd December (the busiest Heathrow day - oh no), I was to fly to Prague.
On the night of the 22nd I had a lovely English Christmas dinner followed by pressies with my house mates and friends and retired to bed early (around midnight) because the next morning was a 4am start to get to the airport the recommended 2 hours early for my flight to Prague. Luckily the fog had lightened up a bit, and the crowds were really full on (I had to wheel my suitcase over people's feet to get through) but it was manageable. In the end my flight had a 90min delay not because of weather conditions or crowds, but because some idiot parked a truck in front of the departure gate where we were meant to get on a bus to take us to the plane on the tarmac, and took over an hour to move it. Nevertheless I arrived in equally foggy Prague safe and sound.
I was greeted by my Czech aunt and cousin and taken to their village outside of Prague. There I relaxed, enjoyed a traditional Czech Christmas (minus the carp fish for dinner, having schnitzels instead), including pressies on Christmas Eve and just generally chilled out in the countryside, including a nice forest bike ride in around freezing temperatures.
On Christmas Day my aunt and cuz took me to Plzen (Pilsen), the original city where Pilsner beer came from and where lager as we know it was initially invented. I was sure to have some Pils at a traditional 17th Century beer hall, complimented of course with some beef gulas.
By the 27th I was well and truly over village life (although going to the well in the village square with buckets to get water and collecting firewood did have a certain 1800's charm about it) so I ventured into Prague itself. I spent the next few days in Prague walking around, taking in the winter atmosphere (and a lot of sausages
served on cardboard with mustard and rye bread), feeling like a bit of a dag walking around with thermals under my jeans and a ski jacket. I felt like less of a dag when mid afternoon on the 28th the heavens opened and covered the city with a few inches of snow. It was wonderful walking around the city and home through the suburbs on fresh powder. Everything looks so nice blanketed in white. Great, although I I returned to feeling like a dag falling on my arse after slipping on ice.
By the 29th December I was a bit bored with Czechia and decided on impulse to jump on a train to Dresden, Germany, for a day trip. The 2.5 hour train ride was beautiful. The whole train link between Prague and Dresden runs along the bank of the Elbe River, the valley looking quite magical covered in snow.
Dresden itself was a really nice city. It was close to flattened by the allies in WW2 but you wouldn't guess it by looking at it. It was rebuilt to a crisp clean city yet retaining what looked like to me as old style-architecture that you see in cities like Prague as well as massive contemporary shopping centres that the Czechs seemed to be visiting in swarms.
Upon returning to Prague that night I met up with some friends of my mum who she used to hang out with when she was 18. They still lived in the same neighbourhood and they took me to a pub in the area which my
mum and her friends used to hang out in. It's a really good feeling travelling across to the other side of the world to see what the folks used to do for a good time (ie. drink beer - more than happy to follow those footsteps).
For New Years weekend my friend Nicolle came over from London and we partied in the city. Midnight was spent on the amazing Charles Bridge (amongst the horde of mostly Italians) watching fire works shoot out from just about every surrounding neighbourhood.
New Years Day was a lovely day, and I tried to suppress my hangover by going for a walk in Petrin, a big hilly park right by the city. But by 5pm I was in bed trying to forget about my hung over existence. The
next day I left that existence behind, catching a train to Vienna. The 4-hour fast Pendolino Tilt train ride was quite luxurious. The luxury continued as I got picked up in Vienna by a friend who took me by car to the village that I lived in as a refugee when I was 6 years old after my parents and I escaped the Communist Czech Republic. I stayed in the Guest House run by the family that put us up when we stayed there originally, so it was a nice trip down memory lane. I got to do some alpine sightseeing in the snow, and even went skiing for a day.
Then I returned to Prague and then London. I worked my last week in London and went for a weekend ski trip in Italy. The European snow season was really poor so there wasn't that much good skiing to be done, but in Italy it is enough of an adrenalin rush just getting into a car, so our taxi ride from the airport made up for the poor snow in the thrill stakes.
Upon returning to London for the last time it was all about packing and going away parties before finally arriving back in Melbourne on the 25th January, to some beautiful weather, great food and welcoming friends and family.
Thanks to everyone who I met along the trip for making it fun and successful and for those at home for staying in touch.
First of all apparently many people were missing flights because the extra airport security needed after the August London terrorism scare couldn't cope with the masses all escaping London for the holidays.
Then to make matters worse, you may have heard that London was engulfed in some major fog. It really was quite bad. Think of the worst fog you have ever seen early in the morning or very late at night, and apply it for four days non-stop. That's what it was like. Hundreds and hundreds of flights from Heathrow were cancelled, and I was worried because on Saturday 23rd December (the busiest Heathrow day - oh no), I was to fly to Prague.
On the night of the 22nd I had a lovely English Christmas dinner followed by pressies with my house mates and friends and retired to bed early (around midnight) because the next morning was a 4am start to get to the airport the recommended 2 hours early for my flight to Prague. Luckily the fog had lightened up a bit, and the crowds were really full on (I had to wheel my suitcase over people's feet to get through) but it was manageable. In the end my flight had a 90min delay not because of weather conditions or crowds, but because some idiot parked a truck in front of the departure gate where we were meant to get on a bus to take us to the plane on the tarmac, and took over an hour to move it. Nevertheless I arrived in equally foggy Prague safe and sound.
I was greeted by my Czech aunt and cousin and taken to their village outside of Prague. There I relaxed, enjoyed a traditional Czech Christmas (minus the carp fish for dinner, having schnitzels instead), including pressies on Christmas Eve and just generally chilled out in the countryside, including a nice forest bike ride in around freezing temperatures.
On Christmas Day my aunt and cuz took me to Plzen (Pilsen), the original city where Pilsner beer came from and where lager as we know it was initially invented. I was sure to have some Pils at a traditional 17th Century beer hall, complimented of course with some beef gulas.
By the 27th I was well and truly over village life (although going to the well in the village square with buckets to get water and collecting firewood did have a certain 1800's charm about it) so I ventured into Prague itself. I spent the next few days in Prague walking around, taking in the winter atmosphere (and a lot of sausages
served on cardboard with mustard and rye bread), feeling like a bit of a dag walking around with thermals under my jeans and a ski jacket. I felt like less of a dag when mid afternoon on the 28th the heavens opened and covered the city with a few inches of snow. It was wonderful walking around the city and home through the suburbs on fresh powder. Everything looks so nice blanketed in white. Great, although I I returned to feeling like a dag falling on my arse after slipping on ice.
By the 29th December I was a bit bored with Czechia and decided on impulse to jump on a train to Dresden, Germany, for a day trip. The 2.5 hour train ride was beautiful. The whole train link between Prague and Dresden runs along the bank of the Elbe River, the valley looking quite magical covered in snow.
Dresden itself was a really nice city. It was close to flattened by the allies in WW2 but you wouldn't guess it by looking at it. It was rebuilt to a crisp clean city yet retaining what looked like to me as old style-architecture that you see in cities like Prague as well as massive contemporary shopping centres that the Czechs seemed to be visiting in swarms.
Upon returning to Prague that night I met up with some friends of my mum who she used to hang out with when she was 18. They still lived in the same neighbourhood and they took me to a pub in the area which my
mum and her friends used to hang out in. It's a really good feeling travelling across to the other side of the world to see what the folks used to do for a good time (ie. drink beer - more than happy to follow those footsteps).
For New Years weekend my friend Nicolle came over from London and we partied in the city. Midnight was spent on the amazing Charles Bridge (amongst the horde of mostly Italians) watching fire works shoot out from just about every surrounding neighbourhood.
New Years Day was a lovely day, and I tried to suppress my hangover by going for a walk in Petrin, a big hilly park right by the city. But by 5pm I was in bed trying to forget about my hung over existence. The
next day I left that existence behind, catching a train to Vienna. The 4-hour fast Pendolino Tilt train ride was quite luxurious. The luxury continued as I got picked up in Vienna by a friend who took me by car to the village that I lived in as a refugee when I was 6 years old after my parents and I escaped the Communist Czech Republic. I stayed in the Guest House run by the family that put us up when we stayed there originally, so it was a nice trip down memory lane. I got to do some alpine sightseeing in the snow, and even went skiing for a day.
Then I returned to Prague and then London. I worked my last week in London and went for a weekend ski trip in Italy. The European snow season was really poor so there wasn't that much good skiing to be done, but in Italy it is enough of an adrenalin rush just getting into a car, so our taxi ride from the airport made up for the poor snow in the thrill stakes.
Upon returning to London for the last time it was all about packing and going away parties before finally arriving back in Melbourne on the 25th January, to some beautiful weather, great food and welcoming friends and family.
Thanks to everyone who I met along the trip for making it fun and successful and for those at home for staying in touch.
17 December 2006
News from the other side of the Ashes battle
Hi Everyone!
Sorry I haven't written in a couple of months.
November was a quieter month for me than the last few I have written about. In fact I did not even leave England. The time was spent working, going out with friends (including a marathon 12-hour Monopoly pub-crawl, visiting pubs on many of the Monopoly board streets), going to gigs (including Aussie bands The Living End and Wolfmother) and generally hiding away from the increasingly British weather.
It has been fun being an Australian amongst the English because it allows me to give them a hard time for what is happening to them in the Cricket. On the down side, not only can I not go to any games because I am on the wrong side of the world, but I can't even conveniently watch them on TV because the time difference dictates that they start at about midnight each night.
December has been all about Christmas shopping and more prominently Christmas functions. I have been to various work Christmas lunches and parties, enjoying all the free festivities.
Yesterday I did my first bit of international travel for almost 2 months, going on a day-trip to Lille in France on the Eurostar train. It's a great city and, despite the cold rainy weather, I still had a great time as always in France, trying to communicate in worse than broken French, I like to call it "Shattered French". The famous Lille Christmas market was nice but smaller than expected but the shopping malls were huge with great shopping (something you come to appreciate living in London). It was also good to get away from the cold and rain, even though being on the giant open air ferris wheel in the rain was kind of fun.
Next week I'm off to Prague to have a continental Christmas and New Year. Then its back to England for a last few weeks of Winter. I'm due back in Melbourne on January 25th, so hope to see those of you in Australia some time soon after that, and those of you in Europe before I head off. At this stage I am not 100% sure if I'm coming back to Oz long term, or just for a short break from the winter and coming back to Europe, although at this moment it looks like I will be coming back to Melbourne to look for a lawyer job. We'll see what happens!
Sorry I haven't written in a couple of months.
November was a quieter month for me than the last few I have written about. In fact I did not even leave England. The time was spent working, going out with friends (including a marathon 12-hour Monopoly pub-crawl, visiting pubs on many of the Monopoly board streets), going to gigs (including Aussie bands The Living End and Wolfmother) and generally hiding away from the increasingly British weather.
It has been fun being an Australian amongst the English because it allows me to give them a hard time for what is happening to them in the Cricket. On the down side, not only can I not go to any games because I am on the wrong side of the world, but I can't even conveniently watch them on TV because the time difference dictates that they start at about midnight each night.
December has been all about Christmas shopping and more prominently Christmas functions. I have been to various work Christmas lunches and parties, enjoying all the free festivities.
Yesterday I did my first bit of international travel for almost 2 months, going on a day-trip to Lille in France on the Eurostar train. It's a great city and, despite the cold rainy weather, I still had a great time as always in France, trying to communicate in worse than broken French, I like to call it "Shattered French". The famous Lille Christmas market was nice but smaller than expected but the shopping malls were huge with great shopping (something you come to appreciate living in London). It was also good to get away from the cold and rain, even though being on the giant open air ferris wheel in the rain was kind of fun.
Next week I'm off to Prague to have a continental Christmas and New Year. Then its back to England for a last few weeks of Winter. I'm due back in Melbourne on January 25th, so hope to see those of you in Australia some time soon after that, and those of you in Europe before I head off. At this stage I am not 100% sure if I'm coming back to Oz long term, or just for a short break from the winter and coming back to Europe, although at this moment it looks like I will be coming back to Melbourne to look for a lawyer job. We'll see what happens!
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